Sinn Féin duo seek urgent meeting with Trust on A&E trolley waits

Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey said tonight that he and North Belfast MLA Carál Ní Chuilín are seeking an urgent meeting with the Belfast Trust over problems in Belfast A&Es.

And Paul Maskey said it was time for health minister Edwin Poots to spend as much time tackling the problem at A&E units as he has on media playing blame games.

The West Belfast MP said:

“I have been contacted by unions and staff in the RVH and once again there are dozens on trolleys and at one stage tonight almost 100 people waiting to be seen.

“My colleague Carál Ní Chuilín and I are seeking an urgent meeting with the Belfast Trust as the problems facing staff at Belfast A&E departments are unbearable.

“I’m calling too on the health minister Edwin Poots to step up to the plate.

“He has the largest budget of all ministers in the Executive. He has also received a total of more than £200m of additional funding on top of that budget, including an extra £20m in the latest monitoring round.

“Yet instead of tackling the problems in A&Es he has chosen instead to criticise the Executive, his party colleague the finance minister and just about everyone else for his inaction.”